


Dogs of War

by Zelos



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Army, Choices, Enlistment, Gen, dogtags, minifill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 01:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelos/pseuds/Zelos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a <a href="http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/17613.html?thread=40050893#t40050893">prompt</a> on Avengerkink:</p><blockquote>
  <p>I just saw <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHMFEFFg1fU/Un8LS5YEo4I/AAAAAAAAZ94/xX7i2XP4_T8/s1600/armystrong.jpg">this</a> on postsecret's military secrets...and immediately thought of Steve, away at war, dreaming of art school. </p>
</blockquote><p>I gave up art school for this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dogs of War

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Imbecamiel, for her drawing and iconing prowess. :)

The dogtags spun on their chain, glinting in the overhead light, every mark and scratch on the surfaces visible. The engraving was still there, still sharp and stark to see: _Rogers, Steven G_ _285521 Brooklyn, New York_

He hasn't worn them for very long at all, relatively speaking.

Steve has worn these dogtags since the day he enlisted; they'd followed him through the serum and cold Normandy winters, long night marches and shock of exploding shells, and followed him down through the ice and back up again 70 years later. They'd held up remarkably well, considering what they had been through.

 _I gave up art school for this._ Well, art _classes,_ if not full-blown art school (he'd have been hard-pressed to find the money, even if the army hadn't drafted every warm body available). Bucky'd given up the classes too, less reluctantly so; Bucky had lots of talent on his own, but Steve had always been better with the pencil.

He hadn't had much chance to pick up the pencil during the war. In the years of active service he'd only had time to do five sketches, the best (and worst) of them being the one of the touring monkey. There just hadn't been time. (He'd wanted to enlist so _badly_ that he hadn't really _let_ himself regret that choice, even when there _had been_ time.) Oddly enough, picking up the pencil after a 70-year slumber didn't feel foreign at all; even if the pencils themselves look different than it did back in the 40s, it was still all the same. It felt like coming home.

Steve threw back his head, taking in the clean modern lines and vaulted ceilings of Stark Tower. Glanced out of the floor-to-ceiling windows to the heart of Manhattan, buzzing with life and love and passion. Somewhere in the hallway, Natasha and Bruce were talking about the art of blending teas.

Steve remembered Howard Stark, presenting him with his painted shield, nimble fingers flying over the airplane dash and rows of machinery. Steve remembered Dum Dum, and how his prized bowler hat seemed to be permanently stapled to his head, come what may. Peggy, carmine lips and painted nails, every shot steady. He remembered Fury's briefings, the Arlington graves. Remembered meeting Tony for the first time, and doing a double-take.

Steve rolled his tags between his fingers again, love and loss and old aches welling.

Yeah, it's been worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> If one takes Captain America: First Vengeance (the tie-in comic) as canon, which I do when there is no direct conflict with primary movie canon, Steve and Bucky were enrolled in art classes just before they enlisted in the army.


End file.
